BLOG: The Death of Print Media

How Digital Platforms and Social Media are changing how we consume journalism

I am sure you heard it before: The way we consume news is vastly different from how it was 50 years ago. Even 10 years ago.

As a newly 21-year-old, I still remember rushing home as a teenager to check and see if my monthly magazine subscriptions to Seventeen and Teen Vogue had come in the mail. Every morning, my father would read our local newspaper The Star Ledger before driving me to school. We looked forward to Sunday mornings to read the Sunday New York Times over coffee and anxiety about the week to come.

Now, instead of checking the mail or stopping by a local news stand, I can instantly open up any social media apps — Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, you name it — to consume my daily dose of news.

Many of us entering the field of journalism grew up watching Sex and the City and The Devil Wears Prada and Almost Famous, where print journalism seemed to be thriving. The picture I had in my head about what it meant to be journalist entering college in 2016 is vastly different from the reality journalists are experiencing now.

What changed, you ask? Social media and the Internet came on the scene and disrupted everything we know about how to be a journalist.

What has changed?

Journalism has evolved from a monthly, weekly or daily print edition to a constant stream of live updates via social media. Consumers scroll on their Facebook and Twitter feeds expecting

to read new content every day, throughout the day, about everything and anything going on in the world.

From breaking news notifications, weather alerts and more, media has found its way into our daily routines.

In recent years, circulation of print journalism has been in steady decline in conjugation with the rise of social media, according to a 2018 Pew Research Center survey.

While the slow death of print media is a tragedy, digital media has provided a platform for journalists to engage with their audience making the newsgathering and reporting process more inclusive.

“Welcome to journalism today,” Anthony Adornato, associate professor in the Department of Journalism at Ithaca College, said in his book Mobile and Social Media Journalism: A Practical Guide. “The tools of the trade are now in the palms of our hands.”

Data shows that the younger generations are shifting their consumption from traditional platforms — including television, print and radio — to social media platforms.

• Nearly two-thirds (68%) of American adults say they occasionally get news on social media, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

• But, the majority (57%) also say they expect the news they read on social media to inaccurate.

Moving Forward

While social media has provided new tools for journalists to improve the reporting process, it has also presented a new challenge for modern journalism: managing an overflow of content.

Journalists have a new responsibility to navigate and sift through the overwhelming amount of information we read online. Most importantly, journalists must distinguish themselves online by verifying and posting only truthful and reliable content to garner reader's trust.

As Adornato wisely notes, “Yes, nearly anyone can ‘publish’ content, but that doesn’t make them journalists.”

Cover image provided by Blair Fraser/Unsplash